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Anatoly V. Gavrilov1, Elena I. Pizhankova1* 1Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Geology, Moscow, Russia; * Corresponding author: [email protected] DYNAMICS OF PERMAFROST IN THE GEOGRAPHY COASTAL ZONE OF EASTERN-ASIAN 20 SECTOR OF THE ARCTIC Abstract. The study summarizes results on the cryogenic dynamics in the coastal zone. The paper shows that ongoing climate warming and shrinking of ice extent of the Arctic seas triggers both thermogenic and cryogenic processes at the same time. The first group includes thermal abrasion, thermal denudation, degradation of submarine permafrost, and the second one is the syncriogenesis of the new-formed coastal-marine sediments. The first group results in an increase of the retreat rate of coasts, the second results in the islands formation on banks and shallows where the domination of bottom thermal abrasion and deepening of the sea bottom has been taken place previously. Arguments for stamukhas and cryogenesis role in islands formation are presented. Key WORDS: coastal zone, coast retreat, degradation of submarine permafrost, coastal- marine sedimentation, formation of permafrost, stamukhas Citation: Anatoly V. Gavrilov, Elena I. Pizhankova (2018) Dynamics of permafrost in the coastal zone of eastern-asian sector of the arctic. Geography, Environment, Sustainability, Vol.11, No 1, p. 20-37 DOI-10.24057/2071-9388-2018-11-1-20-37 Introduction above changes lead to the increasing of retreat rates of icy shores. Simultaneously, the Studies of coastal dynamics in cryolithozone temperature of bottom water is increasing are often conducted disregarding the that causes further degradation of permafrost processes along the submarine near shore that slides into submarine conditions. Both zone. However, changes of above-water part processes facilitate the increasing percentage of coastal zone (onshore) are determined by of suspension and melted sediments at the changes of its underwater part (offshore) submarine near shore zone. This, in turn, (Zenkovich, 1962; Are, 2012). The variations stimulates sedimentation here and on the of hydrometeorological parameters have nearby seabed. definite impact on the changes of the both parts of coastal zone triggering the Recent permafrost dynamics in the changes in other components of natural coastal zone is determined by climate and environment. Thus, at the end of 20th sedimentation in the late Pleistocene and Century – in the beginning of 21th Century Holocene. In the cold period of the Late there the decreasing of ice coverage of the Pleistocene, syncryogenic deposits of the Arctic Seas and longer ice-free period can be Ice Complex (IC) were formed at the drained observed, along with the increasing of mean shelf and the coastal lowlands of the Eastern annual air temperatures. The mentioned sector of the Eurasian Arctic. These deposits Anatoly V. Gavrilov, Elena I. Pizhankova Dynamics OF permafrost IN THE... make up the upper 30-50m of the Late MATERIALS AND METHODS Pleistocene accumulative coastal plain. They are characterized by volumetric ice content The study area covers the coastal zone of of 70-95% and thick ice wedges. In the the Laptev Sea and western part of the East- Holocene, as the result of destruction of IC by Siberian Sea (Fig. 1). lake thermokarst, the syncryogenic deposits of the Alas Complex were formed. They The study of coastal dynamics of eastern are also of high ice content (60-70%) and part of Russian Arctic has been constantly contain ice wedges. They both compose the conducted since the late 60s – the mid- GEOGRAPHY significant part of the shores of the Laptev 70s of the 20th Century (Grigoriev 1966; and East-Siberian Seas. The vulnerability of Molochushkin 1970; Are 1980; etc.). It 21 icy deposits towards the thermal influence became of special importance at the end causes the shores retreat as a result of of 20th Century – in the beginning of thermal abrasion and thermal denudation, 21th Century (Coastal … 1984; Are 1985, and then, the degradation of offshore 2012; Novikov 1984; Grigoriev 1993, 2008; permafrost. These processes determine the Grigoriev et al. 2006; Razumov 1996, 2010; environmental conditions at the coastal zone Dynamics … 1998; etc.). From the mid-1990s of the East-Arctic seas. to the present time the coastal zone research is being carried out with the participation At the same time, coastal-marine of German scientists (Overduin et al. 2007, sedimentation and emergence of recent 2013; Rachold et al. 2007; Junker et al. 2008; permafrost often exist at the coastal zone. Günther et al. 2013, 2015; etc.) within the As a result, the coastal zone is the particular framework of Russian–German collaboration. place on the Eastern sector of Eurasian Now field instrumental methods are being Arctic shelf where there are widely spread replaced by studies with using multi- multidirectional cryogenic processes under temporal remote sensing data more and natural conditions. Their characteristics more often (Pizhankova and Dobrynina in connection the sea ice coverage and 2010; Pizhankova 2011, 2016; Günther 2013, climate changes in the second part of the 2015; Lantuit 2011; etc.). Such studies are 20th Century and the beginning of the 21th more effective, especially for considerable Century is the matter of consider in this paper. length of coastlines. We resolve the problem of shores survey with application of space Fig. 1. The research area. Numbers indicate the sites for which the coastal dynamics were studied using remote sensing data GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY 01 (11) 2018 imagery of medium resolution (Landsat-7, 8) Echolocation at shallow depths was carried with overlapped archival aerial photography out within the framework of Russian-German of the Novosibirskiye Islands with the aim scientific collaboration. In 2003 and 2005, to investigate the spatial patterns of their two very informative meridian cross-sections dynamics. Such surveys were conducted were established from the Mamontov Klyk for the New Siberia Island (Dobrynin et al. Cape to open sea (Grigoriev 2008; Junker et 2005), the Bolshoy and Maliy Lyakhovsky al. 2008). Islands (Pizhankova and Dobrynina 2010; GEOGRAPHY Pizhankova 2011). There was revealed the The mathematical simulation of the acceleration of coastal retreat rate for the permafrost current state for the East Siberian 22 region of Dmitry Laptev Strait in the 20st shelf was carried out on the basis of the Century (Pizhankova 2016). ScanEx Image latest achievements in paleogeography Processor and MapInfo Professional were and software implementing the solution used in the survey. Almost 1,000 km of of the Stefan task under various conditions shores was studied using remote sensing (Romanovskii et al. 2006). data. The electronic archives of Arctic and The study of cryogenesis of offshore sediments Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) (http:// is associated closely with the study of spread www.aari.nw.ru/projects/ECIMO/) and the and depth of permafrost table. This study All-Russia Research Institute for Hydro- and conducted with the help of drilling profiles Meteorological Information — the World was initiated in 1950s. Permafrost studies and Data Center (ARRIHMI – WDC) (http://aisori. geothermal monitoring in boreholes were meteo.ru/ClimateR) serve as the important carried out in various regions of submarine source of information about the changes in coastal zone of the East-Siberian Arctic in ice cover and climate of the East-Arctic Seas. 1960-1980s, for the purposes of geological survey, search for and exploration of mineral THE MAIN FACTORS OF THE COASTAL resources. The work was accompanied by a CRYOGENIC DYNAMICS complex of laboratory studies of sediments. They were conducted in the area of the Tiksi As mentioned above, the high ice content of Bay and Muostakh Island, the Vankina and the main relief-forming complexes (Ice and Sellyakhskaya Bays, the coastal zone of the Alas Complexes) is due to the history of its Novosibirsk Islands, the mouths of the rivers development. The latter is also related closely (Grigoriev 1966; Molochushkin 1969, 1970, to the geological-tectonic structure and 1973; Are 1980, 2012; Zhigarev 1981, 1997; location of the research area in the eastern Zhigarev and Plakht 1977; Fartyshev 1993; most continental high-latitude part of the Fartyshev et al. 1983; Neizvestnov 1980, 1999; Arctic. It was the Late Cenozoic subsidence Soloviev 1981; Soloviev et al. 1987; etc.). In and climate continental conditions that led to 1970 Molochushkin E.N. (1973) sampled the underground freezing of the region in the bottom sediments with a vibration-based Late Pleistocene. At that time glaciers were piston tube in the interval from 10 to 40 m forming in the western sector of the Eurasia. isobaths for the first time. These works were They melted away 17-15 ka BP (Hughes continued in the 21th Century (Grigoriev et al. 2016), while the ground ice of the 2008). Eastern sector still exists. This one determines the increased rates of coastal retreat and Since 1970s, mathematical modeling started seabed deepening. The geological and to apply in studies of distribution, thickness tectonic structure determines the direction and evolution of permafrost (Romanovskii et of contemporary vertical movements, the al. 2006; Gavrilov 2008; Nicolsky et al. 2012). composition and ice content of the deposits These results supplemented the drilling data in the wave action zone, and the height of on the submarine permafrost degradation the cliffs. These factors determine the general from
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  • Source Apportionment of Methane Escaping the Subsea Permafrost System in the Outer Eurasian Arctic Shelf

    Source Apportionment of Methane Escaping the Subsea Permafrost System in the Outer Eurasian Arctic Shelf

    Source apportionment of methane escaping the subsea permafrost system in the outer Eurasian Arctic Shelf Julia Steinbacha,b,c,1, Henry Holmstranda,c, Kseniia Shcherbakovad, Denis Kosmachd, Volker Brüchertb,c, Natalia Shakhovae,f,g, Anatoly Salyukd, Célia J. Saparth,i, Denis Chernykhd, Riko Noormetsj, Igor Semiletovd,e,f, and Örjan Gustafssona,c,1 aDepartment of Environmental Science, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; bDepartment of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; cBolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; dV.I. Il’ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, 690041, Russia; eInstitute of Ecology, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, 101000, Russia; fInternational Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775; gScientific Centre Moscow State University-Geophysics, Moscow, 119991, Russia; hLaboratoire de Glaciologie, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium; iInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands; and jDepartment of Arctic Geology, University Centre Svalbard, Longyearbyen, N-9171, Norway Edited by Mark Thiemens, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, and approved January 19, 2021 (received for review September 19, 2020) The East Siberian Arctic Shelf holds large amounts of inundated from underlying reservoirs, allowing further methane release to carbon and methane (CH4). Holocene warming by overlying sea- the overlying water column (3, 9). water, recently fortified by anthropogenic warming, has caused Near-annual ship-based expeditions to the ESAS over the past thawing of the underlying subsea permafrost. Despite extensive two decades have documented widespread seep locations with observations of elevated seawater CH4 in the past decades, rela- extensive methane releases to the water column (3, 10).